A community of teachers sharing their craft. Nau mai haere mai.

On Friday 31st August we launched our first gathering of Tipu Māia - our community of learning. A community of learning (COL) is a cluster of schools, either geographically or sharing similar needs collaboratively, work together. The Education Review Office (ERO) describe the Tipu Māia Kāhui Ako schools as: “either rural or located in small towns with strong farming and /or a tourism focus. They tend to be the hub of the local area and well supported by members of the wider community. The schools' cultures are welcoming, supportive and inclusive” (February, 2015).

Our community of schools is named "Tipu Māia" and our mission is to develop brave, capable, confident learners working together to enable high quality schools with excellent teaching to create the best future for each and every learner.

During our teacher only day we hosted approximately 200 educators, teachers and principals, where a series of workshops and keynote presentations were given. It was a wonderful day full of sharing practice, honing our craft and enquiring into our practice. By nature teachers are very reflective - always looking at new and improved ways of engaging our learners. We were well supported by Marshall Diggs (from Quick Help), Kaha Education and the Resource Teacher in Learning and Behaviour (RTLB) service.

A special thanks goes to the leadership team of Tipu Māia which includes two of our own teachers Justin Thompson and Tara Egerton. To support Justin and Tara who work across the 13 schools we have recently appointed Emma Don, Rebecca Hart and Mary Chisnall to drive the work of Tipu Māia within our own school. Together we are focusing on three factors that lead to success:

• Agency - giving the learner choice and ownership of their learning
  
• Collaboration - working in teams and communicating effectively
• Engagement - participation and contribution, being active in learning

Last week was a week of entertainment which included our learners performing at the annual Strike, Strum and Blow festival at the Horncastle Arena. A number of our year 5-8 learners performed alongside children from across the region. Many thanks to Ros Tavita and Richard Hines, along with the learners and their parents who helped support this.

Also last week we hosted Carrie Rudzinski who ran workshops and performed Slam Poetry. This culminated with six of our learners performing their very own poems at the Rangiora Library on Friday evening. Many thanks to the learners involvement and sharing, also Jo West for organising.

Finally we are all looking forward to Mars Week which begins on the week starting 10th September 2018. We are very excited and looking forward to hosting Mitch Schulte, Chief Scientist of the Mars Programme from NASA. It will be a week full of curiosity and science discovery, where our learners will take part in Mars Missions and other Mars based activities.

Mike Hart
Principal
Oxford Area School
Te Kura o te Poho Rakahua